1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bead weaving tool that is to be used to manufacture beaded textiles having beads woven therein.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there are known to be bead weaving tools for manufacturing beaded textiles having beads woven therein (e.g., see Japanese Patent No. 4667171). The bead weaving tool described in Japanese Patent No. 4667171 is used in a state in which an elastically deformable plate member is curved. A thread holding portion for holding threads apart from each other is provided on each of the edge portions of the plate member. Also, mounting holes into which rod members such as toothpicks can be inserted are formed in the vicinity of the two edge portions of the plate member.
When using the bead weaving tool in Japanese Patent No. 4667171, while curving the plate member, a thread for holding the shape of the plate member is wrapped multiple times around slits that have been formed in the two edge portions as shown in FIG. 2 of Japanese Patent No. 4667171. Next, as shown in FIG. 3 of Japanese Patent No. 4667171, a plurality of threads are held apart from each other by the thread holding portions on the two edge portions of the plate member while being caught on the rod members. Thus by weaving a thread, which has been inserted through beads, through the threads that have been lined up between the edge portions, a beaded textile can be manufactured.
The task of weaving the thread, which has been inserted through beads, through the threads is performed by passing the thread, which has been inserted through beads, through the space between threads and the curved plate member, while supporting the beads from the bottom with a finger and pushing them up, as described in FIG. 8 and paragraph 0021 of Japanese Patent 4667171. In such a weaving task, the beads need to be supported by a finger, and therefore one hand becomes occupied and unavailable for use. Thus, there has been room for improvement in terms of usability in the above conventional bead weaving tool.